Costa has unveiled its festive food and drink menu for 2023, and it’s absolutely packed full of indulgent goodies to get you properly get you in the Christmas spirit.
The popular coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year, and now, with the countdown to the big day officially on, Costa has given fans what they’ve been waiting for as it’s unveiled its festive food and drink offering for 2023 – with a whole host of brand-new treats, as well as some returning fan favourites on the lineup.
This year, the star of the show this year has to be the Sticky Toffee Latte, which is inspired by the nation’s favourite pudding and turns it into a winter-warming drink.
Also available as an iced version, the Sticky Toffee Latte features a yummy sticky toffee-flavoured sauce, topped with Light Whip, drizzled with even more sauce, and finished with a sprinkling of bronze shimmery angel-like dusting.
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Costa has unveiled its Christmas food and drink menu for 2023 / Credit: Costa
Also new to the festive drinks offering this year is the Roasted Hazel Latte and Roasted Hazel Hot Chocolate, which are both made with flavourful roasted hazelnut syrup, topped with Light Whip, and completed with a beautiful bronzed shimmer and mini gold stars.
Other festive drinks on the menu this year include the comebacks of the much-loved Black Forest Hot Chocolate, and the Gingerbread & Cream Latte, which are both Costa classics at this point, and are set to be on the menu a little earlier than the rest to usher in the seasonal spirit.
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The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate is also making a return by popular demand.
The coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year / Credit: Costa
If you fancy tucking into a hearty festive feast to go along with your limited-edition drinks, then this year’s new food range includes the Pigs and Blankets Toastie, which features succulent pork sausage and maple cured bacon, with caramelised onion chutney, all in tempting garlic, onion and sage crumbed cheese-topped bread, and the Honey Roast Ham and Wensleydale Ciabatta with British Honey roast ham and Wensleydale cheese, mature Cheddar and honey, and béchamel sauce, all packed into a cranberry ciabatta.
For a quick snack lunch, there’s also Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, and a new festive-themed Sausage Roll – which has seasoned pork sausage meat, pulled pork, and divine Bramley apples in an all-butter puff pastry, topped with a wonderful festive pastry star.
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And then, back for another year is the Brie Bacon and Cranberry Panini, the Brie and Cranberry Toastie, the Turkey and Trimmings Toastie, and the Turkey Feast Sandwich.
For the plant-based and vegan customers, there’s a new Vegan Turkey and Trimmings Toastie made up of vegan turkey with stuffing, yummy cranberry sauce, vegan mayonnaise, vegan gravy, all in toasted white bread.
There’s sticky toffee pudding lattes, pigs in blankets toasties, and loads of returning festive favourites / Credit: Costa
For those with a sweet tooth, there’s some new indulgent cakes and biscuits too, including the Belgian Chocolate Ganache Cake, the Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake, the Christmas Cake Slice – which is suitable for vegans – and to finish off, the Polar Bear Gingerbread Biscuit and Christmas Tree Shortcake Biscuit.
Of course, there’s a bunch of returning treats too, such as the Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffin, and the Gingerbread Muffin, to accompany your drinks, as well as the White Chocolate Trillionaire’s Slice, and the Crispy Festive Wreath.
On top of that, both the All Butter Mince Pie, and the Gluten-Free Vegan Mince Tarts, are back for another year too.
The 2023 Christmas menu will be available at all Costa branches and Costa self-serve machines nationwide, and will begin its roll-out from Thursday 2 November.
Featured Image – Costa
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Shepherd’s pie named among classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next decade
Emily Sergeant
Shepherd’s pie has been named among the classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next 10 years.
From a hearty roast dinner on a Sunday, to a slap-up full English breakfast to start the day, classic British dishes have become staples on dinner tables across the nation, all known and loved for their comforting flavours and cultural significance… but apparently, Google searches for ‘shepherd’s pie recipe’ are down 55% in the past year, indicating that less and less people looking to create this traditional dish at home.
So with this in mind, air fryer giants Ninja Kitchen decided to carry out a new study by surveying 2,000 people and studying search trends for popular British dishes to uncover which meals are still loved, and which might be nothing more than a distant memory.
Shockingly, the new study revealed that shepherd’s pie could be facing extinction from early as 2027, with several other favourites dying out within a decade.
Shepherd’s pie takes the fifth spot on the top 10 list, as according to the study, the dish is experiencing a 0.76% weekly decline, and due to the fact only 5% of Brits would name it a ‘favourite’, this classic risks extinction by 2027.
Shepherd’s pie has been named among the classic British dishes that could be ‘extinct’ within the next decade / Credit: Dennis J Wilkinson | Steven Depolo
Another shocker on the list has to been the beloved veggie dish cheese and onion pie, which takes the ninth spot thanks to its 0.41% weekly decline in searches.
However, the majority of the other dishes making up the top 10 list tend to be regional delicacies or dishes that are popular within certain dietary preferences, such as Glamorgan sausage – which takes the number one spot, with a 2% weekly search decline – Tatws Pum Munud, a nut roast, and a vegan roast dinner.
57% of the nation would be sad to see British staples fade away, according to the study, but 31% do appreciate the evolution of food trends.
The study also revealed that the growing popularity of takeaway and convenience food is the leading reason why people are moving away from traditional classics such as shepherd’s pie, with nearly half (46%) of respondents citing it as their main reason.
Additionally, 15% reported that the cost of ingredients was too high, while 10% felt that British classics lacked flavour.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
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Toxic Town – new star-studded Netflix drama series filmed in Greater Manchester airs next week
Emily Sergeant
A trailer and first look images for a gripping new Netflix drama series filmed in Greater Manchester have been released.
Viewers are being given a teaser of what to expect before it airs next week.
Produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabelle Jones, and based on one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals, Toxic Town tells the story of the people at the heart of the 2009 Corby poisonings, that started decades ago in the 1980s, and focuses on a group of mothers who took on a David and Goliath-style battle for justice.
The four-part series written by acclaimed screenwriter, Jack Thorne, traces the years of the mothers’ fight and watches as a terrible truth comes to the surface.
Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood and Claudia Jessie star in TOXIC TOWN. Premiering 27 February.
Based on the true story of one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals, the limited series follows a group of mothers fighting to bring a terrible truth to surface and justice for… pic.twitter.com/HgRoUKBIod
The cast of the new drama is seriously star-studded, with local Northern actors Jodie Whittaker – best known for Doctor Who and Broadchurch – and Stockport-born Aimee Lou Wood – who is best known for the Netflix series Sex Education, as well as the BBC sitcom Daddy Issues, and is currently starring in the third series of HBO’s The White Lotus – taking on the lead roles.
Robert Carlyle, Brendan Coyle, and Rory Kinnear are some of the other famous names playing pivotal roles in the show, alongside Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie, Game of Thrones’ and Skins’ Joe Dempsey, and This is England’s Michael Socha.
New star-studded drama series Toxic Town airs on Netflix next week/ Credit: Netflix UK & Ireland
Show creator Jack Thorne called it the “cast of dreams”.
“I couldn’t believe that we were able to get these people, and that they were prepared to be part of this story,” he commented. “And boy, did they all deliver.”
“Each of them just brought something new that I’d never seen them do before,” Thorne teased ahead of the show’s air. “And when you’re with a cast that’s doing that consistently, it’s so exciting to watch and it’s so beautiful.”
Despite the story being set in the Northamptonshire town of Corby, the majority of this new series was actually filmed here in Greater Manchester – primarily in Bolton.
Over the last decade or so, Bolton has developed a ‘Hollywood of the North’ nickname as the town’s centre and wider borough’s historic buildings and architecture, and striking rural landscapes, have become a favourite for production crews looking to replicate other well-known worldwide locations such as London, New York, and even Moscow.
Camera crews for popular TV shows such as Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley, It’s A Sin, Brassic, The Stranger, Fool Me Once, and A Gentleman in Moscow have all rolled into the town in recent times.
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2023 
